Communications

COMMUNICATIONS

Whoever controls the media - controls the culture.
Allen Ginsberg

For most of us, the media is a significant influence upon our view of the world. The media is a primary source of information which augments and alters the knowledge that we gain through more direct experience.

Of necessity, this media view will always be a distorted one. The ramifications of this distortion can have very serious impacts upon our lives and our world. It influences the choice of who we vote for and the decisions that our politicians take. It affects our lives very directly by the ways in which it helps to define our images of ourselves and of our communities.

Information constructs and instructs our world. If we are to have control over our lives, then we must, as a people, have the right to freedom of information. We must be able to rein in the wild horses of the corporate and political media. We must have access to a wide range of alternative information sources beyond the mainstream ones. Our information must be free from censorship and available to all, whatever their economic or social status. To do this, we need to question and protest our present situation and to develop skilful means for assessing the media and all of the other information that enters into our lives. Skills in the use of media and information need to form a valued part of the education process. It is the combination of education and communications which are the keys to change.

There is much less access to media and information resources within the developing world. This has led to the creation of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) programs designed to eliminate this “digital divide.” Many innovative and exciting projects are now underway to bridge this gap but there is still a very long way to go.

This section contains information and links on Mainstream Media, Alternative Media, and Information and Communications Technologies for Development.

Getting the background

These general sites make a good starting point.

The UNESCO Communication and Information site provides a broad overview for this topic. It offers a global cultural picture from a United Nations perspective and includes links to several thousand related websites.

Australian media law and policy issues are discussed on the Communications Law Centre site. Their FairTel page contains consumer protection information related to telecommunications services.

Oz guide’s Media section is a good source for Australian media-related websites.

Developing skills in using the media

The amount of "information" available is increasing daily. In order to use it in a safe and efficient manner it is important to have the necessary skills. These skills include the capacity to quickly retrieve information, and more importantly, to critically assess its validity.

The educational organisation, Center for Media Literacy, offers many excellent articles and resources on how to effectively use the media.

A similarly useful site is the Media Awareness Network which also focuses on developing media literacy. It includes a simple guide to evaluating Web pages - the Five W’s of Cyberspace

The University of California has some good background guides on searching the Interne t and evaluating web pages .

The right to freedom of information

Freedom of expression and the capacity to easily access accurate information are essential tools for positive community change and growth. Internationally, a variety of organisations are acting to ensure that these tools will be available for all to use.

Many of the groups that are fighting to uphold the freedom of expression have united together as members of the Freedom of Expression eXchange.

Article 19 is an international human rights organisation that seeks to "monitor, research, publish, lobby, campaign, set standards, and litigate on behalf of freedom of expression wherever it is threatened."

The Internet is now one of the primary channels for the distribution of information and opinion. The Electronic Frontier Foundation undertakes to ensure that government and commercial interests do not commandeer the Internet for their own purposes.

Reporters Without Borders protects journalists internationally and produces the annual Worldwide Press Freedom Index.

Libertus.net focuses on censorship issues in Australia. The Index on Censorship provides a more international perspective.

Freedom of expression must not be allowed to override the individual's right to privacy. The Australian Privacy Foundation, the Australian Privacy Commissioner and the American site, The Missing Amendment , focus upon this issue.

Intellectual property

Intellectual property laws seeks to protect our ownership of our own ideas but it can also unfairly limit our access to information. American Professor of Law, Jessica Litman suggests that “... more than ever before our copyright policy is our information policy.” * For this reason alone it is important to understand and to act to ensure the fairness of our intellectual property laws.

The World Intellectual Property Organization is “dedicated to promoting the use and protection of works of the human spirit.”

Visit the IP Australia site for more information about the process in Australia. Electronic Frontiers Australia provides a questioning look at online intellectual property issues.

If you would like to share your creations in the public domain while foregoing all or part of the copyright, go to Creative Commons Australia for more information.